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^  I  \  3  CU-  * 

THERE  IS  NO  SUBSTITUTE 
for  the  MISSIONARY  PASSION 


REV.  FRANK  MASON  NORTH,  D.D. 


There  Is  No  Substitute  for  the 
Missionary  Passion: 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  PRESENT  SITUATION 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


By 

Rev.  FRANK  MASON  NORTH,  D.D. 


Foreign  Missions  Conference  of  North  America 
25  Madison  Avenue  -  -  -  New  York  City 


REPRINTED  BY  PERMISSION 


The  International  Review  of  Missions,  January,  1926 

Published  quarterly,  $2.50  per 
annum.  On  sale  Committee 
of  Reference  and  Counsel,  25 
Madison  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


Price,  15  cents  each 


THERE  IS  NO  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  THE 
MISSIONARY  PASSION: 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  PRESENT  SITUATION 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

By  Rev.  Frank  Mason  North,  D.D. 

The  title  carries  both  the  thesis  and  the  conclusion. 
There  will  be  found  in  this  paper  no  subtle  approaches 
to  an  unexpected  finding.  The  discussion  deals  wholly 
with  the  present  missionary  situation  in  the  United  States. 
It  is  written  by  way  of  information  and  reminder,  and 
assumes  from  beginning  to  end  that  in  writing  the  topic  I 
have  stated  an  axiom.  If  in  other  parts  of  the  world  there 
are  further  illustrative  facts  they  would  be  pertinent  to 
the  theme  but  are  not  included  in  the  present  review. 

The  surface  phenomenon  with  which  we  are  painfully 
impressed  in  America — the  reference  is  wholly  to  the 
United  States — is  the  diminishing  of  what  might  be  called 
missionary  momentum.  The  Churches  have  long  been 
accustomed  to  a  minimum  interest  in  foreign  missions 
and  from  the  zero  point  or  starting  line  have  rejoiced  in 
a  steady,  if  gradual,  increase  in  resources  for  their  work 
in  other  lands  and  in  the  closer  integration  of  that  ‘be- 
yond-the-horizon’  enterprise  with  the  near-by  program  of 


3 


the  Churches.  The  impulses  which  have  created  the  grow¬ 
ing  force  and  volume  have  in  later  years  ceased  to  be 
spasmodic  and  have  so  deepened  and  broadened  both  in 
source  and  output  that  the  Churches  have  reckoned  upon 
maintenance  if  not  acceleration  of  motion,  upon  un¬ 
diminished  if  not  abundant  sympathy  and  resources. 

Just  previous  to  the  world  war,  and  during  its  earlier 
years,  opportunity  in  practically  all  mission  fields  sharp¬ 
ened  the  urgency  of  appeal.  The  leaders  of  every  mission 
board  were  alert  and  their  constituencies  expectant.  The 
celebration  of  the  Centenary  of  the  Missionary  Society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which  occurred  in  1919, 
was  planned  on  a  most  generous  scale.  The  other  so- 
called  benevolent  boards  of  the  Church  were  brought  into 
a  common  appeal  and  action.  The  world-wide  organiza¬ 
tion  was  stirred  to  its  outermost  rim.  On  a  five-year 
basis  a  total  subscription  of  over  a  hundred  and  ten  mil¬ 
lions  of  dollars  was  reported,  of  which  in  total  fifty-two 
million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or  ten  million  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  five  years,  were  as¬ 
signed  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  This  did  not 
include  the  amount  raised  annually  by  the  Woman’s 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Church,  which  in  the 
five  years’  period  would  be  between  eleven  and  twelve 
millions  of  dollars.  Stimulated,  at  least  to  some  extent, 
by  the  purpose  and  plans  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  the  denomination  in  the  United  States  numeri¬ 
cally  the  largest,  whose  missionary  Centenary  was  the 


4 


occasion  of  its  endeavour,  all  the  other  important  mis¬ 
sionary  bodies  organized  with  enthusiasm  for  larger  pro¬ 
grams  both  in  giving  and  expending.  That  the  widespread 
and  generous  spirit  of  altruism  which  characterized  the 
period  of  the  war  contributed  very  largely  both  to  the 
courage  and  the  consecration  of  the  Christian  people  of 
America  in  their  missionary  enterprise  is  a  recognized 
phase  of  the  psychology  of  the  movement. 

In  the  midst  of  these  enlarged  programs  of  the  foreign 
mission  boards — programs  which  in  each  of  the  larger 
communions  included  the  other  church  boards,  the  Inter¬ 
church  World  Movement  was  launched.  It  aimed  to  be, 
and,  in  its  organization  was,  an  inclusive  movement.  All 
phases  of  the  organized  activities  of  the  several  denomi¬ 
nations  were  invited  into  participation.  The  surveys  of 
opportunties  and  agencies  covered  the  entire  country  and 
reached  out,  in  a  measure,  into  foreign  mission  fields. 
The  bigness  of  the  design  at  the  centre  was  felt  to  the 
limit  of  the  circumference.  Hopes  that  had  been  stimu¬ 
lated  and,  perhaps,  disappointed  in  the  individual  de¬ 
nominational  movements,  were  quickened  and  expanded 
by  this  tremendous  ideal  of  a  united  effort  of  all  the 
Church  forces.  Both  in  America  and  on  the  foreign  field 
may  be  found  the  estimates  and  charts  of  the  undertak¬ 
ings  which  it  was  confidently  believed  this  mighty  move¬ 
ment  would  make  possible.  The  ideal  was  noble.  The 
purpose  was  sincere.  The  assemblage  of  forces  was 
extraordinary.  The  logic  of  the  strategy  was  sound.  There 


5 


are,  it  is  true,  those  who  hold  that  the  movement  did  not 
escape  the  illusions  of  grandeur  either  at  its  center  or  in 
some  of  its  more  remote  units.  But  no  one  who  was  close 
enough  to  see  its  idealism  and  the  personal  forces  which 
were  promoting  it  can  fail,  if  he  be  fair-minded,  to 
recognize  in  it  one  of  the  most  superb  attempts  in  the 
history  of  the  Church  to  lift  her  program  out  of  the  small 
circles  into  the  great  ones  and  to  give  to  latent  forces 
everywhere  believed  in,  but  nowhere  fully  trusted,  their 
legitimate  scope  and  power.  In  its  larger  purposes  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement  failed.  It  failed  honour¬ 
ably.  But  its  failure  shook  the  confidence  of  the  Churches 
to  the  remotest  hamlet  and  dampened  everywhere  the 
emerging  enthusiasm  of  the  people  whatever  their  de¬ 
nominational  loyalty  might  be. 

There  were,  at  first,  in  the  period  we  are  reviewing, 
large  increases  in  the  contributions  for  foreign  missions. 
The  channels  were  deepened,  but,  relatively,  the  actual 
streams  are  lower.  The  struggle  of  the  missionary  boards 
during  the  three  years  past  to  maintain  the  larger  pro¬ 
gram  and  in  some  instances  even  to  hold  recession  at  the 
former  levels  is  grave  if  not  alarming. 

At  this  point  it  is  pertinent  to  say  a  word  about  the 
missionary  leadership  in  these  years  of  test.  As  one 
whose  executive  responsibilities,  at  his  own  desire,  have 
been  lessened,  I  may  be  permitted  to  express  the  opinion 
that  no  stronger  men  have  ever  been  entrusted  with  major 
tasks  than  are  those  who  are  now  directing  the  affairs  of 


6 


the  great  missionary  organizations,  many  of  whom  have 
for  many  years  past  borne  the  burden  which  the  Churches 
have  placed  upon  them.  The  names  of  some  are  familiar 
to  the  ruiers  of  nations  and  are  known  in  the  legislative 
halls  of  the  world.  Many  of  them  are  cosmopolitan  in 
their  experience  and  frequently  compare  notes,  from  per¬ 
sonal  knowledge,  touching  the  remoter  places  of  the 
earth.  Without  exception  they  are  honoured  in  the  in¬ 
fluential  circles  of  their  respective  denominations  and  are 
reckoned  as  citizens  of  the  first  rank  in  the  communities 
where  they  live.  They  are,  for  the  most  part,  broad¬ 
minded,  in  the  development  of  the  missionary  policies  of 
their  own  Churches,  and  nowhere  and  at  no  time  has  there 
been  a  stronger  fellowship  in  high  service  than  has 
existed  among  them  for  the  past  decade.  In  the  memories 
of  over  two  score  years,  during  which  by  rather  close 
observation  and  by  many  most  valued  personal  contacts 
the  spirit  and  capacity  of  the  missionary  leaders  of  our 
American  Churches  have  been  appraised,  there  is  no 
record  of  an  excellence  to  which  the  leaders  of  the  decade 
past  must  be  assigned  a  second  place.  On  the  other  hand, 
while  in  devotion  to  their  tasks  they  have  found  in  their 
predecessors  men  whom  they  might  emulate  but  not  excel, 
in  their  comprehension  of  the  issues  involved  in  the  mis¬ 
sionary  enterprise,  in  their  alertness  in  meeting  oppor¬ 
tunity,  in  their  unreserved  fellowship  in  co-operation  with 
one  another  and  in  their  initiative  under  unexpected  ap¬ 
peals  they  are  unsurpassed  by  any  who  at  any  time  have 


7 


led  the  missionary  forces  of  the  Churches. 

Facts  are  irritating,  especially  when  they  are  in  the 
realm  of  finance.  The  pessimist  welcomes  them  even 
though  he  can  be  gloomy  without  them;  the  optimist 
would  be  glad  to  ignore  them,  but  they  are  stubborn,  and 
— however  cheerfully,  bless  him! — he  must  deal  with 
them.  The  facts  for  the  mission  boards  are,  as  already 
indicated,  that  incomes  have  surprisingly  fallen,  and  that 
the  real  cause  for  the  decline  has  not  yet  been  fully  dis¬ 
closed.  As  this  is  written,  one  of  the  most  important 
communions  in  council  is  considering  the  adjustment  of 
its  budget  for  next  year  to  a  loss  of  twelve  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  dollars.  We  add,  with  gratitude,  that  the  great  Con¬ 
vention  has  made  most  generous  pledges  to  meet  the  de¬ 
cline.  The  board  which  makes  the  largest  contribution 
to  foreign  missions  is  working  under  a  reduction  to  its 
fields,  throughout  the  world,  of  40  per  cent.  Another 
board,  in  the  very  front  rank  for  liberality  and  devotion, 
found  itself  last  year  with  but  70  to  75  per  cent  of  its 
expected  income.  Registering  a  welcome  recovery  this 
present  year,  another  board  recalls  that  two  years  ago  it 
was  obliged  to  order  a  reduction  of  25  per  cent  in  its 
field  work.  A  study  of  the  incomes  of  several  boards 
indicates  not  only  the  drop  in  income  for  the  two  or  three 
years  past,  but  in  a  longer  period  a  much  slower  growth 
of  income  for  foreign  missions  than  for  the  other  benevo¬ 
lent  undertakings  of  the  Churches.  The  lines  which  by 
diagram  show  the  growth  of  the  Churches’  annual  invest- 


s 


ment  for  local  purposes,  that  is,  what  the  individual 
Churches  spend  upon  themselves,  as  compared  with  the 
contribution  of  the  same  Churches  for  foreign  missions, 
suggest  nothing  more  apt  than  the  race  between  the  hare 
and  the  tortoise.  The  striking  fact  is  that  among  the 
larger  communions  there  seems  to  be  no  exception  to  this 
deplorable  trend.  One  is  forced  by  these  figures  to  think 
in  terms  of  general  causes,  or  of  some  one  cause,  which 
produces  the  common  effect. 

It  is  impossible  to  leave  a  financial  statement  just  here. 
To  the  record  of  what  it  is,  follows  inevitably  the  ques¬ 
tion — why  is  it?  The  lack  of  dollars  or  of  pounds  means 
much  in  itself,  as  missionary  folk  on  both  sides  of  the 
sea — indeed  on  the  shores  of  all  the  seven  seas — in  these 
days  know.  But  the  implications  throng  about  the  fact 
and  refuse  to  be  excluded.  Does  the  fall  in  income  indi¬ 
cate  the  poverty  of  the  people?  Is  it  due  to  bad  method? 
Does  it  tell  a  story  of  loss  of  faith?  Is  it  one  of  several 
symptoms  which  indicate  spiritual  break-down?  Is  it 
contagious  or  likely  to  become  chronic,  or  is  it  curable? 
This  would  not  have  been  written  for  the  sake  of  announc¬ 
ing  that  the  mission  boards  in  the  United  States  are  short 
of  funds.  The  real  inducement  was  not  the  opportunity 
to  state  a  fact  but  to  say  some  things  about  it.  To  these 
we  now  come.  They  are  here  written  not  as  data  for  dis¬ 
cussion,  not  as  causes  of  a  lamentable  situation,  not  as 
explanation  of  a  group  of  facts,  but  as  matters  which  be¬ 
long  in  any  survey  of  the  conditions  under  which  the 


9 


missionary  forces  in  the  United  States  are  striving  to 
carry  on. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  money  in  America,  more  per 
capita  than  ever  before.  It  was  never  more  widely  dis¬ 
tributed.  There  is  a  remarkable  increase  in  savings  banks 
deposits.  The  production  of  automobiles  and  their  use 
would  be  astounding  were  we  not  so  familiar  with  the 
phenomena  of  the  gas  and  of  the  wheel.  Organization  of 
business  shows  constant  expansion.  It  is  offset,  in  part, 
of  course,  by  failures.  Normally,  unemployment  is  re¬ 
duced  to  a  minimum.  Prices  have  not  returned  to  the 
pre-war  level — in  the  region  of  New  York  City  they  are 
between  70  and  80  per  cent  above  the  level  of  1914.  But 
wages  are  very  high.  As  is  universally  the  case,  it  is  the 
salaried  class — clerks  and  professional  men — who  feel 
the  financial  strain.  If  the  channels  of  missionary  money 
show  low  water,  it  is  not  because  there  is  not  plenty  of 
water.  Other  channels  are  bank  full  and  some  overflow 
— in  waste  and  in  the  destruction  of  the  roads  and  the 
crops. 

The  idealism  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  has 
been  sadly,  we  believe  not  permanently,  shocked.  One 
who  shared  in  the  enthusiasm  for  co-operation  in  a  war 
that  was  to  prevent  war,  who  felt  the  urge  of  the  altruism 
of  the  men  of  the  street,  of  the  shop,  of  the  counting- 
house,  of  the  school,  of  the  Church  for  a  spirited,  un¬ 
selfish  world  service,  needs  no  demonstration  of  the  dis¬ 
aster  to  the  morale  of  the  nation  which  came  when  the 


10 


nation’s  leadership  went  into  opposition  and  a  generous 
co-operation  gave  place  to  the  bicker  and  barter  and 
bargaining  of  politics.  To  know  the  truth  he  has  only 
to  take  account  of  his  own  reactions.  When  the  forward 
march  of  America’s  soul  was  checked,  and  bivouac  and 
retreat  took  the  place  of  advance,  the  new  appraisal  of 
other  nations  began  and  a  new  attitude  toward  the  world 
became  painfully  familiar.  Race  antagonisms  with  many 
have  deepened.  A  wholly  needless  shadow  rests  upon 
our  relations  with  Japan.  ‘One  hundred  per  cent  Amer¬ 
ican’ — some  of  them  born  outside  of  the  United  States, 
and  not  natives  of  Canada  either — became  prominent. 
Organizations,  some  of  them  secret,  set  themselves  against 
‘foreigners.’  It  is  seldom  asserted,  but  it  is  a  fact,  that 
insidious  prejudice  against  foreigners,  Asian  or  European, 
is  permeating  many  communities.  To  this  there  is  no 
check  in  law,  and  custom  counts  often  for  it  and  not 
against  it.  The  difficulty  of  appraising  this  influence  is 
at  once  apparent.  It  prevails,  of  course,  chiefly  in  the 
Protestant  section  of  the  population — the  group  from 
which  our  mission  resources  are  drawn.  One  may  easily 
overstress  its  importance.  It  may  also  be  overlooked  or 
underestimated.  In  any  case  it  belongs  to  the  data  we 
are  considering. 

A  factor  in  the  situation,  in  this  case  wholly  within  the 
Churches,  is  not  yet  in  such  perspective  as  to  reward 
exact  examination.  Yet  in  the  intimate  conversations  of 
the  administrative  officers  of  the  boards  it  has  an  impor- 


ii 


tant,  if  not  a  major,  place.  The  development  in  any 
communion  of  a  larger  program  for  foreign  missions  in¬ 
evitably  touches  the  interests  of  other  boards  of  the  de¬ 
nomination.  The  appeal  for  larger  contributions  for 
work  beyond  the  horizon  has  in  no  case  failed  to  arouse 
the  concern  of  those  responsible  for  the  work  on  the 
hither  side  of  it.  The  facts  of  the  situation  are  not  al¬ 
ways  clearly  seen.  While  a  half  dozen  home  base  so¬ 
cieties,  home  missions,  church  erection,  Sunday  schools, 
education,  clerical  pensions  and  the  like,  all  in  friendliest 
contact  with  the  home  Churches,  care  for  the  interest  in¬ 
dicated  in  the  home  land,  one  society  cares  for  the  like 
interests  in  the  foreign  fields.  Yet  that  society  or  board 
is  reckoned  as  just  one  unit  among  all  the  rest.  The 
growing  purpose  to  meet  the  problems  at  home  has  the 
highest  commendation  of  all  students  of  missions.  The 
demands  of  new  types  of  work  increase  the  claims  for 
funds  and  the  perplexity  of  organization.  In  the  interest 
of  peace  and  the  reduction  of  the  number  of  appeals  to 
the  same  constituency  the  united  appeal  and  the  budget 
system  have  been  quite  generally  adopted.  The  result 
has  been,  in  many  cases,  the  reduction  of  income  as  well 
as  of  appeals.  Built  into  a  system  of  percentages  the 
amount  available,  if  the  budget  is  raised,  is  relatively 
small.  A  foreign  board  which  had  formerly  received 
over  50  per  cent  of  the  Church’s  giving  for  benevolent 
purposes,  now  has  36  per  cent.  The  increase  in  its  in¬ 
come  is  conditional  upon  the  lifting  of  the  total  income. 


12 


Individuals  who  would  gladly  give  for  special  objects, 
desiring  to  be  loyal  to  the  Church’s  plan  and  to  secure 
for  the  local  Church  credit  upon  its  quota,  hesitate  and 
suppress  the  impulse  to  larger  generosity.  Congregations 
contribute  toward  the  budget.  They  escape  the  specific 
offering  for  foreign  missions  and  also  the  education  and 
stimulus  that  the  presentation  would  bring.  It  is  hard  to 
give  colour  to  the  ‘benevolent  budget.’  Ever  have  there 
been  fascination  and  mystery  in  the  lands  afar.  It  is  a 
question  whether  logic  is  a  sufficient  substitute  for  imagi¬ 
nation.  When  foreign  missions  come  to  be  thought  of  in 
direct  connexion  with  the  business  of  the  Church,  with 
those  familiar  organizations  which,  however  important, 
really  make  appeal  to  individual  or  community  self- 
interest,  the  picture  has  lost  some  of  its  colour.  In  large 
measure  the  united  appeal  gets  its  strength  from  the  for¬ 
eign  mission  element  in  it.  To  adopt  the  united  appeal 
seemed  to  be  good  business  and  high  strategy.  To  find 
the  least  common  denominator  of  a  dozen  boards,  foreign 
missions  being  one,  and  to  work  the  Church’s  benevo¬ 
lent  program  by  that  has  seemed  good  mathematics,  but 
there  are  those  in  every  communion  where  it  has  been 
tried  who  suspect  that  the  foreign  mission  unit  in  the 
group  suffers  irreparable  loss.  This,  it  will  be  said,  is  a 
matter  of  machinery.  Granted.  But  a  defective  mechan¬ 
ism  lessens  and  mars  the  product.  The  way  of  escape 
for  foreign  missions  is  being  sought.  It  has  not  yet  been 
found. 


13 


The  mission  fields  were  never  before  so  near  us  as  in 
the  last  five  years.  A  new  disposition  for  communication 
has  been  developed  and  the  technique  for  its  expression 
is  marvellous.  Russia,  China,  South  Africa,  Japan,  India, 
begin  the  day  with  us.  What  they  think  of  us  measures 
well  up  in  the  column  with  what  we  think  of  them.  Men 
from  our  schools,  our  trade  centres,  our  pulpits,  have 
been  visiting  the  foreign  fields.  The  available  opinion 
on  foreign  affairs,  including  missions,  is  vastly  increased. 
Mission  administration — with  the  increases  in  capital  in¬ 
vestment  and  personnel — has  become  big  business.  Wise 
and  experienced  men  concern  themselves  with  it.  Often 
they  bring  to  the  boards  and  executive  officers  large  rein¬ 
forcement.  It  is  sometimes  awkward  when  they  present 
themselves  as  qualified  experts  after  ten  hours  or  so  in  a 
given  field  or  after  a  casual  glance  at  an  annual  report 
which  contains  a  thousand  items.  But  the  boards  are 
agents  of  the  Churches  and  all  the  members  of  the  Church 
form  the  constituency.  The  boards’  decisions,  as  to  policy, 
program,  personnel,  affect  thousands  of  individuals. 
Enthusiasm,  optimism,  programs  (with  a  balance),  ex¬ 
penditure  (with  a  margin  of  safety),  policy  (on  a  rising 
income),  induce  little  comment.  When  reaction  comes, 
as  in  the  period  now  under  our  discussion,  discontent  as 
to  procedure  and  views  as  to  what  ought  or  ought  not  to 
have  been  done  are  to  be  expected.  When  brought  to 
focus  where  responsible  administrators  can  interpret  or 
modify,  there  is  little  harm.  Expressed  or  urged  where 


14 


no  information  or  correction  can  be  given,  they  often 
become  foci  for  the  contagion  of  ignorance  and  prejudice, 
the  range  of  which  cannot  easily  be  determined.  When 
one  adds  to  this  the  new  phases  of  thinking  to  which 
national  attitudes  such  as  those  revealed  in  India  and 
China  and  Russia  force  all  thoughtful  men,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  suspect  that  missionary  motive  may  be  dulled 
and  expansion  in  giving  may  be  temporarily  restricted. 
If  national  Churches  are  sufficient  unto  themselves,  why 
help  them?  If  in  foreign  mission  lands  the  man  from 
the  West  is  not  wanted,  why  go?  Voices,  then,  are  heard 
which  do  not  come  from  the  mountain-side  in  Galilee. 
What  would  have  been  the  Master’s  answer  had  Peter,  or 
Thomas  perhaps,  asked  ‘Shall  we  go  and  disciple  nations 
which  do  not  bid  us  come?’ 

One  further  fact  must  go  into  this  record.  Restlessness 
in  the  theological  phases  of  the  life  of  the  Churches  in 
America  has  afforded  no  little  amusement  to  the  unco’ 
wise  on  both  sides  of  the  sea,  but  the  humour  of  it  is  its 
least  important  element.  The  Dayton  episode  would  be 
negligible  and  Scopes  forgotten  were  it  not  for  the  strong 
cross  currents  upon  which  they  were  but  bits  of  flotsam 
and  jetsam.  That  the  great  communions  of  America  are 
doomed  to  continued  and  weakening  disorder  because  of 
essential  theological  differences  probably  few  of  their 
leaders  and  none  of  their  rank  and  file  believe.  But 
suspicion  even  casually  expressed  deepens  into  distrust. 
Intolerance  inevitably  breeds  hatred,  or  what  would  be 


15 


hatred  if  the  modern  temper  were  not  on  the  whole  so 
amiable.  To  shake  even  inadequate  foundations  is  peril¬ 
ous  if  those  resting  upon  them  have  no  guidance  as  to  the 
processes  for  strengthening  them,  or  have  no  idea  that 
good  granite  lies  just  at  hand.  After  all,  it  is  this  same 
old  sinner,  Intolerance,  which  is  the  star  performer  in 
the  melee  to-day.  Extremists  who  are  unable  to  put 
themselves  in  any  other  man’s  place  are  equally  disturb¬ 
ing  whether  Fundamentalists  or  Modernists.  There  is 
seen,  not  infrequently,  a  strange  anomaly — an  extreme 
liberal  excessively  and  most  disagreeably  intolerant,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  devoted  and  highly  spiritualized 
fundamentalist  who  quite  certainly  never  heard  of  the 
milk  of  human  kindness,  or,  at  least,  has  left  it  unused 
so  long  that  it  has  gone  sour.  The  open  discussion  of 
these  theological  differences  has  appeared,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  in  the  great  assemblies  of  several  of  the 
larger  denominations.  The  chief  injury  to  the  missionary 
program  has  not  been,  however,  in  the  fair  conflict  in  the 
open,  but  in  the  more  subtle  ways  of  small  literature, 
small  talk  and  the  propaganda  of  insinuation.  To  a  large 
extent  this  goes  unanswered.  The  integrity  of  missionary 
opinion  and  devotion  has  been  assailed.  Absurd  sug¬ 
gestions  of  the  heterodoxy  of  missionary  leaders  both  at 
home  and  abroad  have  been  whispered.  Agencies  which 
are  outside  of  the  Churches  and  which,  since  they  repre¬ 
sent  no  formal  constituency,  are  free  to  put  the  accent 
upon  some  special  doctrine  or  some  peculiar  method  of 


16 


administration,  divert  support  from  the  more  regular  so¬ 
cieties.  The  discontent  of  pious  ignorance  and  the  im¬ 
patience  of  a  secular  spirit  find  in  the  present  unsettled 
thought  of  the  country  a  not  unwelcome  occasion  for 
withholding  and  for  criticism.  That  these  phenomena 
are  little  more  than  appearances,  and  that  they  are  not 
symptoms,  many  are  glad  to  believe.  That  the  springs 
of  beneficence,  especially  towards  the  unseen  people  far 
away,  have  felt  the  influence  of  a  dry  season  and  have 
been  running  low,  can  hardly  be  denied.  That  the  con¬ 
ditions  are  permanent,  I,  for  one,  do  not  believe. 

And  now,  per  contra.  The  annual  contributions  for 
foreign  missions  far  exceed  those  of  seven  and  eight 
years  ago.  There  were  never  so  many  missionaries  on 
the  field.  The  world  over,  the  range  of  activity  has 
widened.  The  zeal  of  our  young  people  for  service 
abroad  has  not  slackened  though  it  is  creating  new  chan¬ 
nels  for  expression.  Recruits  ever  exceed  budgets.  Wise 
men  and  women  steadily  and  undismayed  are  examining 
the  technique  of  administration  with  a  view  to  simplicity, 
economy  and  efficiency.  Their  work  is  not  good  material 
for  publicity  and  little  is  heard  of  them,  but  the  results 
of  their  patience  in  invention  and  of  their  fund  of  ex¬ 
perience  will  be  found  all  along  the  line.  The  mission¬ 
ary  leaders  of  the  day  have  given  good  evidence  of  their 
vigour  and  vitality.  Prompt  utterances,  powerful  and 
far-reaching,  have  gone  to  interested  governments  and  to 
the  missionary  forces  in  China.  They  ask  that,  in  the 


17 


revision  of  the  treaties,  missionaries  be  relieved  both  of 
the  protection  and  the  handicap  of  special  rights,  and 
that  the  steps  toward  the  abolition  of  extra-territoriality 
be  speeded  up.  The  missionary  movement  may  have  lost 
momentum  but  the  missionary  mind  is  keen;  it  has  lost 
neither  purpose  nor  edge. 

Many  will  recall  the  days  when  we  said,  ‘There  is  a 
silent  America.’  It  spoke  not  uncertainly  in  the  period 
of  spiritual  idealism  when  the  world  war  brought  its 
challenge  and  its  test.  There  is  a  silent  American  Church. 
There  is  often  life  where  there  is  no  speech.  Tens  of 
millions  of  church  members  write  nothing  for  the  press, 
and  are  heard  neither  in  the  council  room  nor  on  the  plat¬ 
form.  To  action  wide  and  sweeping  the  right  voice  ever 
stirs  them.  Millions  of  them  do  not  give  to  foreign  mis¬ 
sions,  but  millions  of  them  do.  It  is  not  candid  to  stress 
the  one  without  stressing  the  other.  One  of  the  boards 
reports  between  fifteen  and  twenty  thousand  individuals 
concerned  in  intelligent  giving  to  specific  objects.  Lit¬ 
erature,  it  is  believed,  in  greater  volume  and  in  more 
effective  form  than  ever  before  reaches  the  people — the 
daily  press,  the  religious  press,  Sunday  school  journals, 
special  periodicals,  tracts,  booklets,  church  bulletins, 
manifolded  field  letters,  children’s  stories,  books  of  his¬ 
tory,  of  adventure  and  of  devotion.  The  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  women  in  the  women’s  missionary  societies 
and  departments  have  relaxed  neither  in  their  faith  nor 
in  their  enterprise.  The  outstanding  fact,  after  all,  is 


18 


\ 


that  there  is  in  this  vast  church  fellowship  of  believers  in 
Jesus  Christ  a  spiritual  force  that  cannot  be  repressed. 
False  ideas  must  be  rebuked  and  cleared  away.  Many 
year  ago  Canon  Fremantle  wrote  a  great  book  to  which 
he  gave  the  title,  The  World  the  Subject  of  Redemption. 
The  notion  seems  to  prevail  in  some  quarters  that  the 
world  is  the  subject  of,  let  us  say,  education,  or  reform, 
or  civilization.  Confidence  must  rest  not  upon  some  skil¬ 
ful  contrivance  but  upon  the  Divine  Man.  This  is  not  a 
contest  of  cult  with  cult.  Our  concern  is  not  preaching 
to  men  about  something  whose  chief  merit  lies  in  its 
being  better  than  that  which  they  have.  Here  is  some¬ 
thing  outside  of  “churchizing’  the  multitudes.  Here  are 
a  life,  a  cross,  a  tomb,  a  resurrection — the  redemption  of 
men  from  sin,  infinite  compassion  for  their  weakness  and 
sorrow,  victory  over  death,  eternal  life.  Here  and  there 
men  act  as  though  our  Leader  had  left  the  field,  or  that 
what  He  did  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  ended  His  part 
of  it,  and  that  the  rest  is  our  overwhelming  task  with  Him 
away  and  not  caring.  Is  the  Gospel  of  a  Living  Christ 
a  new  Gospel  in  our  generation?  Does  the  motive  which 
moved  the  missionary  heroes  of  the  early  days — the  con¬ 
straining  love  of  Christ — seem  too  personal,  too  intimate, 
for  a  highly  organized  Christianity?  Would  the  effort 
once  again  to  fan  into  flame  the  missionary  passion  serve 
a  purpose  which  the  cultivation  of  a  missionary  intel¬ 
ligence  and  a  missionary  conscience  leaves  incomplete? 
Frankly,  ‘out  of  the  depths,’  and  out  of  the  buffetings  of 


19 


the  cross  currents  of  modern  experience,  many  in  Amer¬ 
ica  are  crying  unto  Him — this  Living  Lord.  They  believe 
that  ‘there  is  no  other  name.’  They  discredit  no  organ¬ 
ization,  they  decry  no  program,  they  would  honour  and 
arouse  the  Church,  but  just  now,  with  breaking  hearts, 
they  are  asking  for  the  vision  of  Him — the  Christ  who 
Lives.  They  believe  in  the  throb  as  well  as  in  the  science 
of  missions.  They  urge  for  themselves  and  for  others 
that  the  warmth  of  a  fervent  spirit  may  go  with  the  cool 
thinking  of  a  clear  brain. 

There  is  no  substitute  for  the  Missionary  Passion. 

The  burning  heart  of  our  compassion  for  the  multi¬ 
tudes  must  be  our  Passion  for  Jesus  Christ. 

It  was  the  compelling  power  in  the  first  century.  The 
twentieth  has  found  for  it  no  substitute. 


20 


